


Sunlight And Flashes

by padfootagain



Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-19 12:46:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17001930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootagain/pseuds/padfootagain
Summary: For your second anniversary, Ben prepares a huge surprise for you : a trip through Italy. But are you sure there is Nothing more hidden behind this trip?





	1. Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> Just cute cute cute! Hope you like it!

When you entered your flat and smelled the scent of pastas, you knew Ben had prepared something special for tonight. You breathed deeply the scent of tomato and basil, throwing your bag away.

You were on holiday, and it felt like heaven.

Ben had insisted on you taking two weeks of holiday before he would have to fly to Toronto where he would be filming for several months. And as your anniversary was right in the middle of these two weeks, you couldn’t refuse. You smiled at the thought that it had been almost two years now since this night when he had finally stopped acting like you were just friends and had finally told you he loved you. You had been through so many things together in just two years…

Anyway, you were on holiday. And so now you were ready to sleep non-stop for two weeks… or well, enjoy sleeping whenever Ben would let you rest…

You walked into the living room, humming to the jazzy music Ben had turned on. You grinned at the sight of candles set all over the room. You walked to your side of the table, and you picked up the bouquet of roses that rested before your plate. You lifted the red flowers up to you face, breathing deeply their scent.

You felt a pair of strong arms wrap around your waist, and you grinned as Ben was dropping a sweet kiss on your neck.

“Hey, love,” he breathed against your skin. “Surprise!”

“Thank you.”

You turned around, flinging your arms around his neck and kissing his lips, making him chuckle.

“Sit down, the pastas are almost ready,” he said.

“You cooked pastas?” you asked, brushing your nose against his.

“Hmmm,” he nodded.

“I love your pastas,” you smiled.

“I know you do. Come on sit down, I’ll be right back.”

You smiled, and sat down as instructed.

“Thank you for the flowers,” you said, turning on your chair to look at him as he cooked.

He merely smiled in response.

“How was your day?” he asked, before plunging a spoon into the food he was preparing, tasting the sauce.

He frowned slightly, and added more pepper.

“We don’t talk about work for the next couple of weeks!” you decided. “It’s holidays.”

He smiled, nodding, and soon he was by your side, taking away the flowers and bringing a bottle of wine.

“Prepare the wine, would you,” he said, walking back to the kitchen.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning on getting drunk,” you teased him as you opened the bottle and poured you and Ben some red wine.

When he came back from the kitchen with the pastas and he filled up your plate with his marvelous food, you immediately picked up your fork and ate a mouthful.

You couldn’t refrain a moan.

“I love you, Ben,” you breathed, swallowing the pastas.

He merely laughed, sitting across from you.

“So the mystery is finally solved. All I have to do to please you is cook pastas more often.”

You nodded, eating again, and Ben laughed, starting to eat as well.

But you could see that there was something that he was holding back. Something he wasn’t telling you. So you reached for his hand across the table.

“Sweetheart?” you said softly. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course,” he smiled.

“You seem… like you want to talk to me about something but you don’t dare to.”

“Actually you’re right,” he nodded, putting down his fork.

He stroked softly the back of your hand with his thumb, and you felt shivers run up your spine.

“In just one week it’s our second anniversary,” he said softly.

You nodded.

“Two years that we are together,” you said, a dreamy smile on your face.

He nodded as well.

“So… I’ve prepared a little something. Actually a _huge_ something.”

“Really?” you asked, your smile widening.

But as he opened his mouth to speak again, your phone rang.

“No battery, sorry,” you winced sheepishly, before rising from your seat and heading for the bedroom.

And as Ben finally realized that you were heading there, he hurried towards you.

“No!”

But he was too late. You had already opened the door…

To discover bags and suitcases, all packed up…

“Ben?” you asked, and your voice was shaking as you recognised _his_ suitcase, and _his_ bag. “What’s going on?”

He took your face in his hands.

“That was the surprise, but it looks like you’ve discovered it too soon.”

“What…?”

But suddenly you spotted _your_ suitcase as well.

You looked up at him, a smile slowly curling up your lips.

“Are we going somewhere?” you asked softly.

He nodded.

“We are,” he grinned.

“Where are we going?”

He took an envelope out of his pocket, and handed it to you.

“Happy Anniversary… a bit in advance, but I’m pretty sure you’ll forgive me.”

You opened your gift, and your eyes widened as you read the destination written on the plane tickets.

“We… we’re going to Roma?” you breathed, grinning, looking up at him again.

He nodded.

“Actually, we’re going to Roma for six days,” he said, picking up a little map of the country where you would spend your next two weeks. “Then we’re heading for Firenze for three days. And then two days in Napoli and finally, two more in Venice.”

You grinned, feeling tears blurring your vision.

You had always dreamt to travel to these cities…

“So?” he asked with a proud smirk. “What do you think? Good surprise?”

“You’re crazy,” you answered, laughing.

You wrapped your arms around him, pressing your face against his shoulder.

“Thank you,” you whispered. “I love you, Ben. I love you so much.”

He smiled, kissing the top of your head.

“I love you too, Y/N.”

You looked at the suitcases again, still safely trapped into Ben’s arms.

And you felt so lucky to have him by your side…

—————————————————————————————————

Ben was very good at many things. He was very talented in his work, he cooked very well, he could sing like sin… And he was an absolute angel to you, always kind, always caring, always loving. He was a real teddy bear, and you loved him with all your heart.

But give him a map and you could be sure that he would get you lost.

And of course you knew it. After two years of relationship you knew he struggled to find his way through a map, especially when it was in a city.

But he had seemed so enthusiastic when you had walked out of the Colosseum… he was like a little child. Excited, happy, a grin crossing his face. So you hadn’t protested when he had picked up the map of Roma, trying to find his way through the city.  

But you were back before the Colosseum for the third time and you were starting to get annoyed.

“Love, I can find my way around…” he protested when you tore the map from his hands.

“No, sweetheart, you can’t,” you replied.

He pouted, making you smile, and you dropped a sweet kiss on his lips.

“But I love you anyway,” you reassured him.

“I hope so!”

“So… we went to the Roman Forum.”

“Yep.”

“And the Colosseum, obviously,” you added, pointing at the monument next to you.“ And we have seen the Arch of Constantine… three times thanks to you and your sense of directions.”

He playfully stuck his tongue out, a smile on his face.

“And where do you want to go now?” you asked him.

“I reckon we should try to walk up to the Capitoline Hill and continue to the Piazza de… something.”

“Piazza de Campidoglio,” you said, chuckling, pointing at the map to show him the name.

“Yeah… that’s it.”

“Then we need to go back towards the Roman Forum.”

“Which is in…?”

“This direction,” you answered, laughing, pointing towards the main street.

“Right.”

You exchanged a smile, and he wrapped an arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer to him, dropping a peck upon your head.

“So… what do you think of these holidays so far?” he asked, a smirk on his face.

Because after all he _knew_ you were enjoying yourself a _big_ time.

“Not bad,” you teased him.

“'Not bad’? All this work for a 'not bad’?” he asked faking shock.

You laughed.

“Okay… I have to admit that this trip is awesome,” you admitted, and his face lightened up with one of his shining grins that made your heart skip a beat every time.

He chuckled, kissing your forehead.

“Is that enough to make you sign up for two more years?” he asked.

“Sign up for two more years with you as my boyfriend you mean?” you teased him. “I don’t know. It means a lot… I think you’ll have some more convincing to do. After all, it’s only our fourth day here.”

“Yes… but in four days we’ve visited most of Roma, and I know it was one of your big dreams.”

You nodded slowly.

“And we have eaten the best pastas and pizzas in the world. Far more better than mine, by the way,” Ben went on, counting on his fingers. “And I’m a bit upset with that because maybe now you’ll stop loving _my_ pastas.”

You laughed.

“I’ll always love your pastas, sweetheart,” you replied, kissing his neck.

“And I reckon we did lots of romantic things at night and in the morning and…”

You covered his mouth, laughing.

“No need to remind me of this kind of activities,” you laughed.

“So… I have to admit that it makes lots of good reasons to sign up for two more years with me, don’t you think?”

You rested your head against his shoulder.

“What if I want more than two years?” you said softly.

He stopped walking, looking down at you, a grin on his face.

“I guess we could make another contract, without limited duration,” he proposed.

“That would be much better,” you nodded.

“I agree,” he smiled, before leaning down to drop a loving kiss on your lips that let you both breathless…

The day was warm and the sun was shining bright above you. So Ben bought you both ice creams, and you resumed your walk towards the Capitoline Hill. You walked the flat stairs that led to the main square and you took lots of pictures of Ben doing silly faces as you both marveled at the old buildings and the patterns on the ground.

“It says here that it was designed by Michelangelo,” Ben said, reading his guide of Roma.

“It’s beautiful,” you nodded.

He took your hand in his, and he pulled you closer to him.

“Not as much as you,” he smiled, before pressing his ice cream against your nose, making you shriek in surprise.

He laughed while you cleaned up your face.

“You’ll pay for that, you know you will,” you laughed.

“I’m ready to face your wrath, it was worth it,” he replied, laughing as well.

“I’ll save my vengeance for later. A moment when you don’t expect it.”

He merely gave you a peck on the lips in response.

“So…” Ben said, taking a look at his watch. “We’ve been much faster than I thought we would be, it’s only 3 pm. We still have time to go somewhere else. Where do you want to go?”

“We should try to walk back to the Pantheon,” you said, looking at the map. “And then we can even maybe go back to the Trevi Fountain.”

He nodded.

“Sounds good to me.”

And so you walked through the streets of Roma again, holding hands, and laughing at his silly jokes, and not getting lost as this time you insisted on taking care of the map.

You had already been to the Pantheon the day before, but you loved it so much… You insisted on entering inside the building again. As you walked under the ancient roof to enter the church, it felt almost like it would fall upon your head. You touched the old columns partially consumed by time, before finally entering the building itself. And of course it was full of people, but you didn’t care. You merely marveled at the round ceiling, and the many sculpted columns. You longed to trail your fingers upon the stone of the walls and pillars, that was of a strange shade, somewhere between orange and pink and you wondered with which material they were made of. But you couldn’t touch them, so you merely stared at them for a while. You looked at your feet as you crossed the room, walking upon the marble floor.

And all the while, Ben was holding your hand, a dreamy smile on his face. But you knew his smile was for you, not for the ancient stones…

Eventually, you accepted to walk back to the fountain, and saying that there was a crowd there would be a euphemism. But you didn’t mind. For all the years you had imagined walking there, you had never thought it could be that large. It was gigantic. It was absolutely beautiful, and beyond all your expectations. And even if you had seen it the day before, you still marveled before the richly carved white statues. It was a whole wall decorated with incredible symbols.

And again, you were left speechless.

You let Ben guide you closer to the fountain, and you managed to get just on the edge of the fountain, which you hadn’t been able to do the previous day.

“We couldn’t leave Roma without doing this,” Ben smiled, giving you a coin.

He turned his back to the fountain, and you imitated him.

“Make a wish,” you smiled.

He kissed your cheek.

“You already know my wish,” he answered, a dreamy smile on his face.

“I think we have the same then,” you smiled.

You both closed your eyes, and threw the coin over your shoulder and into the clear water, laughing.

You seized the occasion of being closer to take a better look at the statues. You nodded towards the statues of horses at the center, noticing what looked like wings… or fins…

“Do you think they’re supposed to be horses?” you asked Ben.

“No, I think they are seahorses,” he said, searching in his guide of Roma.

“Can you read what’s written up there?” you asked, pointing at the writing under the papal coats of arms.

He looked up, narrowing his eyes.

“It’s latin I think,” he said. “I have no idea what it means.”

“'Anno Domini MDCCXXXV’, that’s the date of the creation of the fountain, right?” you asked.

“I have no idea,” Ben shrugged.

“You should…”

He looked intensely at you.

“Because I may let you decide where to go next if you find out what it means.”

“You want to challenge me?” he asked, a mischievous smile on his face.

You nodded, and Ben picked up his phone.

“Okay so…” he said. “’M’ means 1000, ’D’ means 500, 'C’ means 100, 'X’ is for 10, 'V’ stands for 5 and finally 'I’ for 1. And apparently there are some more complicated rules, but we’ll just go with that.”

“So it means 1735,” you said.

“Most definitely a date.”

You smiled, giving him the map.

“So what now?”

He grinned, taking the map and searching for a new destination.

But he felt a strange sensation as if… as if someone was looking at him. As if someone was staring.

He hoped no one had recognized him. Not that he didn’t like talking with his fans, but he had hoped to spend two weeks with _you_ , just _you_.

He searched throughout the crowd for the person who was staring at him.

And he froze as he spotted the right man.

Because he wasn’t just staring at him, he was taking pictures, with a very expensive camera, clearly.

Ben clenched his jaw. He hadn’t planned on having to deal with a paparazzi.

“You know what… I’m a bit tired, why don’t we go back to the hotel?” he proposed, looking down at you again.

“Oh… okay,” you nodded.

But he could see how disappointed you were.

“We can walk to the Piazza Navona if you want,” he said, and your face immediately brightened. “And then we go back to the hotel. Would that be alright?”

You nodded enthusiastically, and you both walked away from the fountain, taking a narrow street nearby.

You were surprised by how fast he was walking…

“Ben? Why are you hurrying so much?” you called, and you took his hand to force him to slow down.

“Nothing,” he replied.

But you knew he was lying.

“Love…” you replied, your voice full of warnings.

“I’ll tell you later, let’s go now,” he answered elusively.

You followed him through the street, before taking the lead, making sure not to get lost. You finally reached the piazza, and you walked closer to the Egyptian obelisk. You sat down on a bench nearby and looked at the white church right behind the obelisk, your eyes lingering upon the dark lines that surrounded the higher pillars. You took Ben’s hand again.

He was looking over his shoulder, as if he was afraid to be followed.

“What’s wrong?” you asked.

He heaved a relieved sigh.

“I thought I saw a paparazzi at the fountain, but he didn’t follow us. Must be my imagination playing tricks on me…”

He immediately relaxed, and looked around the piazza, watching the orange and yellow and white old buildings.

“It feels like being in an old movie,” he said, smiling. “It’s hard to think it’s all real.”

You nodded, resting your head on his shoulder.

“Maybe we should come and live here,” you said.

He laughed.

“A constant roman holiday?” he asked.

“Why not? You could get better at cooking pastas.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Here, I’ve lost my major argument to conquer your heart,” he joked.

You kissed his shoulder through the fabric of his black T-shirt.

“You don’t need to conquer it anymore,” you whispered.

And as he tightened his hold on your hand, you knew he was grinning.


	2. The Trouble With Fame

Ben had been often impressed during this trip with you. Because of how rich the architecture was, and the complicated statues, and the many fountains, and the very old monuments… The Colosseum had been very impressive to him. Seeing the long flight of stairs, and seeing all the complexity of the organization of the building, with the many floors under the building that were now revealed to the visitors… He had been very impressed.

But he had to admit that Saint Peter’s square was probably coming in second in his list of most impressive places.

“I feel so little,” you said softly next to him, staring at the gigantic basilica before you.

“I reckon it’s meant to make you feel like you’re very little,” he nodded, his eyes roaming across the buildings, and lingering on the large columns that surrounded the entire square.

“The Vatican doesn’t like to make things like normal people do, right?” you joked.

Ben smiled next to you, brushing his fingers against yours, and you automatically intertwined them together.

“Let’s go to the museum, shall we?” you asked, and Ben nodded.

You walked together out of the square, heading for the museum nearby.

You couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the sight of men in traditional clothes inside the Vatican. The richly decorated rooms, and the tall statues… you felt like you had travelled through time, and you were almost expecting yourself to fall face to face with a musketeer or a princess in a large velvet dress.

And judging by the look on Ben’s face, he felt just the same.

“It’s a strange place, don’t you think?” you told him.

He could see a little frown on your face, and he knew you enough to recognize it.

“You don’t like this place much, do you?"he asked softly. "I thought it was one of the places you wanted to see.”

“I wanted to come here,” you nodded. “But I feel… uncomfortable here. Kind of oppressed. You know as if… the weight of history was upon our shoulders. Plus… the security guys constantly watching us aren’t helping.”

Ben chuckled, and he guided you down an adjacent corridor where there were less visitors.

“Do you want us to get out?” he asked.

You shook your head.

“We need to reach the ‘Capella Sistina’ first.”

He smiled, resting his hands on your waist.

“One more week here and you’ll be fluent in Italian,” he teased.

“I’ll be fluent in the names of famous places, not in Italian,” you laughed.

But you saw him focusing on something behind you, and he hurriedly took his hands off of your waist.

“Ben?” you asked.

“Why don’t we keep going then?” he asked you, and before you could reply, he was walking further into the Vatican.

He kept throwing glances over his shoulder, and you knew he wasn’t listening to you when you talked to him…

Until you reached the Sistine Chapel and you both froze as you stepped into the vast church.

Everything was covered with paintings. There were so many people gathered in there, you couldn’t see the ground, but you guessed that the floor was richly decorated as well. Wherever you looked on the walls, on the ceiling everywhere… there were biblical scenes painted all over the place.

Both you and Ben remained frozen for a few seconds, your mouths falling open in awe. Until someone from the security pointed at your camera saying 'no photo’. You nodded, putting your camera in your bag, and you walked further into the room.

“I have to admit, that it was worth the rest of the visit,” you breathed.

“How the hell did they manage to do that?” Ben whispered. “I mean… It’s gigantic and yet all the proportions are perfect…”

“Can you imagine that Michelangelo was lying on his back, facing the ceiling to draw that,” you said, pointing at the famous scene of the 'Creazione di Adamo’. “For thousands and thousands of hours…”

“No I can’t imagine,” Ben admitted.

But then his attention was brought back towards the present as he recognized the paparazzi from the Trevi Fountain walking into the chapel. Clearly he was looking for the two of you through the crowd, so Ben turned his back to the entrance, hiding you as well.

You frowned at his strange behaviour.

“What’s wrong?” you asked softly

He heaved a sigh.

“I think the guy from yesterday is back,” he said.

He seemed nervous, almost afraid. And you failed to understand why.

“The paparazzi?” you asked.

He nodded, checking over his shoulder again.

“Well, let him be then,” you said.

“I can’t _let him be_ ,” Ben replied.

“Why not? He’s just gonna take a few photos.”

“That’s the whole problem. He’ll take photos of _us_.”

You narrowed your eyes.

“What is that supposed to mean?” you asked, your tone colder than you expected.

“Not what you’re crazy mind is imagining,” he replied, heaving a sigh.

“I hope not.”

You had raised your voice, and all the men from security seemed to simultaneously turn towards you.

“I’m not sure we’re supposed to speak that loud here,” Ben whispered.

“Why does that bother you so much that some guy could take a picture of us? Are you ashamed of me or something?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

You shook your head, anger burning through your veins.

“Let’s get out of here,” you breathed, and you didn’t wait for Ben’s answer to stride towards the exit.

“Y/N…”

He stopped you as you walked out of the chapel and into the corridor.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said again. “I don’t want us to fight. It’s our trip…”

“Why does that bother you so much?” you asked again, walking down the corridor with him.

“Because who I love is my business and _my_ business only. I thought we had agreed on that. On me not making official announcements or anything.”

You heaved a sigh.

“Why don’t you just tell the guy to go away?”

He intensely looked at you.

“What if I’m wrong and he’s not taking pictures of us?” he asked back.

“Then you say that you’re sorry, that you made a mistake and you walk away.”

He shrugged, turning back towards the man who kept on following you.

But there was no doubt to have, he _was_ taking pictures of the two of you.

“Stay here,” Ben ordered, before walking to the paparazzi.

At first the scene seemed quite calm, but then the man raised his voice, speaking in Italian, and Ben raised his voice too and…

Security walked towards the two of them…

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” you breathed.

You walked towards the little group, but…

“Look, I just want him to stop following me across the town taking pictures of me and my friend,” Ben explained.

“Is she your girlfriend?” the paparazzi asked with a heavy Italian accent.

Ben heaved a sigh.

“I said _friend_ ,” he corrected the man.

You froze.

You saw that Ben was saying something else, you saw his lips moving, but your brain couldn’t listen.

You were a _friend_?!

But then you started as you realized that someone from the security staff was holding your arm, pulling you towards the exit of the museum…

And two minutes later, you were back in the street.

“Did we just… get thrown out of the Vatican?” you asked, turning to Ben next to you.

“Looks like it.”

Apparently the paparazzi was released in another street, because you couldn’t see him anywhere.

“I’m sorry,” Ben said softly, leaning against the wall behind him. “I fucked up everything.”

“We were at the end of the tour,” you reassured him.

But there was something in the way you fled his gaze, in the quiet way you answered him, in your way of standing several meters away from him that showed him that something was wrong.

“You’re mad at me.”

His tone was not inquiring, he wasn’t asking a question. He was stating a fact.

And indeed, you were infuriated.

“I don’t really know how I should react to the fact that you’ve described me as a friend,” you said slowly.

He took several steps towards you, shaking his head.

“Y/N…”

“Ben… you just told someone I was just a friend!”

“I don’t want the whole world to know about us because some idiot took a picture of us,” he replied.

“Are you ashamed?” you asked.

He shook his head.

“Of course, I’m not ashamed of you. I’m proud of you, I’m the proudest man in the world.”

“But you’re freaking out that someone could learn about us?” you asked back.

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

“No… I’m afraid that it could be used in the press when I’m not the one who officially spreads the news.”

“What are you waiting for to spread the news then?”

He silently stared at you.

“Because that scene you made it’s… insane,” you went on.

“It’s not supposed to happen that way,” he breathed.

“What is? You and I finally becoming official? Sorry, I thought we had become official two fucking years ago.”

“What’s your favourite place in town?”

“What?” you asked back, taken aback by his strange question.

“What was the place we went to that you preferred?” he asked again.

“I… I don’t know… probably… the Trevi Fountain,” you answered.

“Alright, then we’re going there now.”

“What?”

“We’re going there right away,” he repeated, and he walked towards the main road, looking for a cab.

“No… we’re not going anywhere,” you protested. “We’re in the middle of a fight!”

“Y/N… please…”

“You’re not getting out of this so easily…”

But he shushed you, crushing your lips together…

And you loved his kisses so much, how could you defend yourself against such an argument?

“Y/N… please, trust me. Trust me, I need to do something with you right now. Just trust me, would you?”

“Ben…”

But he caught a cab, and the driver guided you through the city.

“We need to finish this conversation,” you insisted. “It’s important.”

“Trust me it’s not as important as what I have in mind,” Ben answered elusively.

The driver stopped just a few streets away from the fountain. Ben hurried outside the car, holding the car door for you, and the second you were outside he took your hand in his and guided you towards the fountain.

Of course he got lost and you lost some time.

But he didn’t seem to care.

He had this expression of determination on his face that he had when nothing anyone could tell him could make him change his mind. But you noticed that he seemed nervous as well.

“Ben…what are you doing?” you asked.

He didn’t answer, finally recognizing a street, and guiding you in the right direction.

“Ben, I really think we should finish this conversation,” you went on. “Because…”

But you finally arrived before the fountain, and Ben made his way through the crowd, still holding your hand.

It’s only once you were right at the edge of the water that he turned towards you again, sweeping the sweat away from his forehead.

It was true that the weather was particularly warm, and you felt graceful for the fresh breeze that blew next to the fountain.

“Okay, now we can talk,” he said.

“I reckon you interrupted the debate after I’ve asked if you were ashamed of our relationship,” you said, crossing your arms before your chest.

He shook his head, a dreamy smile on his face.

He was supposed to get angry too, to shout, to at least raise his voice… but instead he was smiling like an idiot, and he didn’t seem to care.

What was wrong with him all of a sudden?

“You’re making me the happiest and proudest man on this Earth, Y/N,” he said.

You felt your anger vanish a bit more every second…

“But you’re all upset because someone could take a picture of us together,” you replied.

“Because… because I need to know something before we make an official announcement. And when I do scream to the whole world that we’re together, I want to do it my way.”

“I think we should do it then,” you said. “I don’t know what you had in mind, but I think we should do it. Because today it’s just one paparazzi that troubles you, but I’m not going to hide our relationship. Do I need to remind you how long we needed to get where we are now?”

“I was so stupid,” he breathed. “By then I was an idiot. It took me two damn years of friendship to finally admit to you that I didn’t see a friend in you at all… and even then it was an understatement. I was already in love with you. I fell in love with you the very night we met at this party my brother had organized and I heard you singing ’ _Don’t stop me now’_ completely out of tune, dancing on this table.”

You remained frozen, staring at him.

Even after two years of relationship, he had never spoken a word about all this…

“I’ve been in love with you for four year, not two,” he went on, taking your hands in his. “And… and it’s not at all how I imagined this would be like, but that’s okay. You’ve always had a talent to mess up with my life anyway.”

You rolled your eyes, although you could feel your throat dangerously tightening.

“I have no problem with showing the whole world we are together,” he went on. “I’m proud to have you by my side. But I need to know if we want the same thing first. I need to know just one thing. And actually, that’s in order to get this answer that I organized all this for you. I thought… I thought that you deserved it to be perfect. I realize now it doesn’t matter where or how I ask you this. All that matters is that…”

His voice seemed to break, and he cleared his throat. His voice was your entire world. You were standing there, in one of the most beautiful places you had ever seen, surrounded by strangers, but all you could hear was Ben’s voice and all you could see were his dark eyes, as if reality itself had suddenly shrunk and was just Ben now.

“I love you,” he said, smiling. “I love you with all my heart and… and I know that won’t change. And every time I think that it’s absolutely impossible for a human being to love someone more than I already love you, you do something that makes me fall even harder for you and… and I never want this to stop.”

He took something out of his pocket…

And when you saw the reflection of the light upon the diamond he held in his hand, your eyes grew very wide.

And then he slowly kneeled down, his brown eyes never leaving yours.

“I want to spend all my life with you,” he said. “Would you like to spend all your life with me too?”

Your hands flew up to cover your mouth in shock.

It was so hard for you to breathe, your heart was beating so fast, you couldn’t think, your brain was like frozen.

“Would you marry me, Y/N?” he asked, a shy smile on his face.

But you were too shocked to move, and the longer you remained silent, the more his smile faded.

Because the two of you had never talked about marriage, and none of you had spoken about how your relationship should evolve since you had moved in together and…

And this was way too much for your poor little heart.

“Y/N?” he breathed.

He slowly stood up, panic rising and rising more and more by the second inside him.

Finally, you uncovered your mouth, and it’s only when your tears reached the corner of your lips and you tasted their salty bitterness that you realized that you were crying.

“You… are such a moron,” you said, your voice hoarse with tears.

He raised an eyebrow, but he was bad at hiding how scared he was.

“You are such… such an idiot,” you went on. “You’re a pure idiot Ben Barnes.”

You shook your head, still crying, and Ben was completely terrified by now.

“But I love you so damn much,” you breathed.

Before he could react you had crushed your lips together, and it took him several seconds to let you deepen the kiss and rest his palms on your cheeks.

You kissed him for what seemed to be forever, unwilling to let go.

When you eventually broke away, he stared at you, a slightly shocked expression on his face.

“Does that mean 'yes’?” he asked in a breathy whisper.

You grinned, nodding.

“Yes,” you whispered.

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

He swept you off your feet, grinning and laughing, and crying, and you both were a mess and everyone was looking at you, but you couldn’t have cared less.

When he finally put you down again, dropping loving kisses all over your face, he took your hand, and slipped the ring around your finger.

You rested your forehead against his, both of you staring down at the engagement ring that now enlaced your finger.

“Love, love come on, dry your cheeks,” he breathed, taking your face in his hands again, and stroking your cheeks with his thumbs to sweep the tears away.

“You too,” you smiled, drying his cheeks as well.

“Alright, come on.”

He wrapped an arm around your shoulders, and took his phone out of his pocket.

“Show your brand new jewel to the world, this is going on every single account I own on the internet,” he said, grinning.

“You’re mad, you know that?” you laughed, kissing his cheek.

You looked at his phone, grinning, and a second later, Ben had sent the photo throughout the whole world.

“So… that means you’ve made an official declaration,” you said.

“Yep… now paparazzi’s can take as many pictures of us as they want,” he mumbled against your lips.

You chuckled, your laugh shushed by his kisses.

“I think I love this place even more now,” you said.

“I think it works. This fountain must really be magical.”

“Why?”

“Well, my wish came true. I asked that you’d agree to spend your entire life with an idiot like me.”

You laughed, running your fingers through his dark hair.

“Well… mine worked as well, you know?” you said.

“What did you ask for?”

“I asked for you to remain _my_ idiot for the rest of our lives. I guess we can say it worked quite well.”

You both laughed, and you couldn’t remember being so happy.

The rest of the trip felt like heaven, both of you were on little clouds, from which you visited Italy and took lots of crazy and ridiculous selfies with Ben.

And when you came across paparazzi’s again in Firenze, Ben offered them some champagne…


End file.
